Net Neutrality - The End Of The Internet As We Know It

Net Neutrality: THE END OF THE INTERNET AS WE KNOW IT...

Steve and Joe talk about plans to regulate internet services without making the rules available to the public before the FCC vote.

Is this one step towards losing freedom on the internet?

If Net Neutrality regulations are so good for us, why are they not releasing the details to the public? The FCC Commission, run by five positions that are appointed is comprised of two republicans and three democrats. One of the FCC's Commissioners is upset that Obama's 332 page plan to regulate the internet is not being released to the public. He wishes that the public could see all of the details of this plan prior to the vote. Plans are to regulate internet services under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. As a result, the Internet will be treated as a utility.

Much of the progress we see in technology is because of private companies and investments. Obama has asked the FCC to reclassify the Internet as a regulated utility. Recently a reference made on Forbes.com, stated that industries regulated or controlled by the government typically have major problems. (Public schools, health care, student loans, housing, banking, physical infrastructure, immigration, the space program, the military, the police, or the post office?) On the other hand we see that where deregulation has occurred, innovation has bloomed, such as with telephony services. "The U.S. government has shown time after time that it is ineffective at managing much of anything. This is by design. The Founders intentionally created a government that was slow, inefficient, and plagued by gridlock, because they knew the greatest danger to individual freedom came from a government that could move quickly–too quickly for the people to react in time to protect themselves. If we value our freedom, we need government to be slow. But if government is slow, we shouldn't't rely on it to provide us with products and services we want in a timely manner at a high level of quality."

Some regulation is good. Too much regulation is bad.

The internet (World Wide Web) was officially invented in 1989 by Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee. He wants to see Net Neutrality because he never want to see any one large corporation controlling what you can see, read, and access speed. He feels that if laws are not in place, large companies are going to take over the internet.

We can all agree that some internet regulation and authority is good for protecting our children and safeguarding our privacy, but to much regulation can stifle innovation, progress and competition. Is it fair that some companies are generating a tremendous amount of revenue and not pay more when they are using more of what we all helped create?

We can see the point of both sides. Ultimately we can suspect an increase in cost either through taxes or fees for something that used to be free.

"It's okay, you can still keep you internet. Nothing is going to change."